Stem Cells Used for Gene Delivery
manofsan
03 May 2004
I just read this article:
http://www.betterhum...ID=2004-05-03-2
Thusfar I've seen regenerative medicine (stem cells) and recombinant
medicine (gene therapy) as two very promising but separate branches of
medical science. But now it seems like the 2 are overlapping.
Based on the article, the stems cells are being exploited for their motility, acting as delivery vectors for the AAV gene delivery vector -- am I right?
So the gene delivery vector itself gets a delivery vector to target it at the right tissues.
So the regenerative capacity of the stem cells isn't even being exploited at all here? Just the motility? Hmm, sounds like buying a Rolls Royce to deliver pizza -- isn't that overkill? Can't other motile cells be found that would do the job just as well, such as macrophages? I've previously posted about using the immune system as a means to promote genetic modification while also killing off older unmodified cells.
http://www.betterhum...ID=2004-05-03-2
Thusfar I've seen regenerative medicine (stem cells) and recombinant
medicine (gene therapy) as two very promising but separate branches of
medical science. But now it seems like the 2 are overlapping.
Based on the article, the stems cells are being exploited for their motility, acting as delivery vectors for the AAV gene delivery vector -- am I right?
So the gene delivery vector itself gets a delivery vector to target it at the right tissues.
So the regenerative capacity of the stem cells isn't even being exploited at all here? Just the motility? Hmm, sounds like buying a Rolls Royce to deliver pizza -- isn't that overkill? Can't other motile cells be found that would do the job just as well, such as macrophages? I've previously posted about using the immune system as a means to promote genetic modification while also killing off older unmodified cells.
